Star Odyssey

Chapter 3774: Clash

The bone-colored claws completely ignored Yue Ya. The claws squeezed down, crushing the Tri-Azure Sword Intent while also relentlessly forcing their way into the Consciousness Megaverse. Gradually, a vast form appeared.

Lu Yin’s eye twitched uncontrollably as he was struck by a sense of terrible danger. He spun around and raced back to Boundless. He could not stay here. He needed to escape, and quickly at that. He was still unable to directly fight against an Immortal. Master Qing Cao had not treated Lu Yin as a serious threat, but the Immortal monster was different.

The next moment, the earth-shattering roar of a beast rang out, echoing across the entire Consciousness Megaverse and creating ripples that shattered stars and countless planets.

Lu Yin’s consciousness, which he had anchored to the stars with the Cosmic Art, also fractured and collapsed. He glanced back. Why had this monster come to the Consciousness Megaverse?

Just outside the Willbound Expanse, everyone aboard Boundless was staring into the distance. Expressions changed dramatically, and both Wilderness God and the Pridebeast were seized by an instinctual terror. They both became hypersensitive as a silent fear descended upon them like storm clouds.

Pridebeast and the Megalith huddled together, trembling violently.

Even the lotus leaf over Astral Anura’s head wilted with the toad’s growing dread. “Monster! There’s a monster! RUN!”

Wilderness God let out a deep growl, “RUN!”

Chu Yi and Lu Tianyi exchanged glances. That bestial roar had nearly stopped their hearts. They had both felt as though something had grabbed hold of them and squeezed them. There was no doubt that this was no common foe, but rather an Immortal monster. How could so many Immortals suddenly be appearing?

Lu Yin returned to Boundless, his face dark, though his expression was calm. “Go! We leave now!”

“Master is still in Willbound Spire!” Chu Yi reminded.

Lu Yin replied, “The Origin Progenitor is safe. We’re the ones with our lives on the line.”

With that, he stepped off the back of the ship, his body surging with the power of Infinity as he shoved Boundless forward, sending the vessel rocketing toward the megaverse’s boundary at insane speed.

The beast let out another roar, and everyone looked up from Boundless. Their jaws fell as they stared at the sky in a daze.

“Fuck me.”

Everyone saw the immense, bone-colored claws sweep across the sky, tearing the void apart like cutting paper. There was nothing special about the movement or the effect, as there were many others capable of the same thing. What was shocking was the resulting shockwave that nearly capsized Boundless. No one aboard the ship had ever experienced anything like it.

Boundless was currently being moved by Lu Yin, and yet it had still nearly capsized.

The power of those claws was beyond terrifying, and it was completely unfathomable.

Yi Shang and Yuan Qi turned deathly pale. What on earth were they looking at?

Ce Wangtian, Second Gu, and the others clenched their fists. Their thoughts were frozen, and they could not even speak.

Chu Yi and fell silent with the others. It looked like the universe was rolling back around them. Lu Yin did not even lift his head as he pushed Boundless forward. Move! Faster!

It was clear to him that the monster was after him. It had crushed his Tri-Azure Sword Intent. In the past, some other creature had used that very sword technique to sever this monster’s claws, inciting a howl of agony. It was looking for revenge.

Boundless shot toward the boundary at breakneck speed.

A sudden cry rang in Lu Yin’s ears. “It’s falling!”

He looked up to see the bone-colored claws swiping downwards. The creature’s true form was still hidden, yet just its claws alone had blotted out the sky.

If Boundless was struck, the ship would be pulverized. This was far worse than being struck by the meteorite.

Lu Yin gritted his teeth and hurriedly unleashed the Tri-Azure Sword Intent, but he did not aim at the bone-colored claws, as that would be useless. Seeing the claws shatter his attack had already taught Lu Yin that he could not damage this monster in any way. Instead, he slashed an attack in a different direction, hoping that doing so would lure the monster away.

Sure enough, when the Tri-Azure Sword Intent penetrated the void and reappeared a great distance away, the bone-colored claws suddenly hesitated. After a brief pause, they suddenly lunged after the attack.

Chu Yi and the others on Boundless let out breaths of relief, and their ashen complexions somewhat recovered.

Unfortunately, that only lasted a moment before their faces reverted to a deathly pale color.

The bone-colored claws were nothing more than the end of an arm reaching out. They could see the creature’s arm stretching from one horizon to the other, and they were not even able to see the top or bottom of the arm. All they could make out were the monster’s claws reaching outwards. The direction it was reaching meant that the arm would pass right over Boundless, and the ship would be shattered into splinters like a top beneath a tsunami.

Lu Yin stared up at the sky. “Heaven and Earth Lock.”

Invisible chains fell from the sky, each one strengthened by specks of light. With just a single technique, Lu Yin consumed dozens of specks of Immortal matter as the Heaven and Earth Lock enveloped the beast.

The arm froze, and the beast released an earth-shattering roar.

Boundless was too close, and many people aboard were instantly knocked unconscious. Lu Yin’s mind reeled, but he gritted his teeth and continued to shove Boundless past the monster. He was taking the battleship to the boundary.

The monster’s claws swung, and they effortlessly ripped through the Heaven and Earth Lock. The enraged monster’s claws destroyed everything in the area.

Just as the claws were about to hit Boundless, Chu Yi, Lu Tianyi, Wilderness God, Sovereign Dou Sheng, and every other top expert underwent the Nine Heavens Transformation and moved to block the claws.

Boom!

There was a deafening impact, and every last person who had stood up to the claws was blasted back, vomiting blood as they slammed into the deck of the battleship.

Yuan Qi and many others trembled in fear at the power that they were witnessing.

The people’s attempt to block the claws drew the monster’s attention. The bone claws rose up high and then smashed down towards Boundless.

Lu Yin exhaled. “Monster!”

He leapt upwards. “Ancestor Tianyi, all of you push Boundless away! I’ll catch up!”

When Lu Tianyi and the others had smashed into Boundless, their skin had torn, and their bodies had cracked. Fortunately, because they had all used the Nine Heavens Transformation, they had been strong enough to survive the impact. Any normal Dukkhan would have already died.

Lu Tianyi looked at the Megalith and the Pridebeast. “You two, start pushing!”

The beasts trembled, unable to so much as raise their heads.

Wilderness God punched the Megalith’s head, but it accomplished nothing. The creature refused to so much as budge.

Lu Tianyi’s eyes fell upon Astral Anura.

The toad was similarly terrified, but he also understood the current stakes. If they were not able to escape, they would be doomed. “I’ll push!”

Lu Yin shot upwards again, Infinity sending power coursing through his body even as it withered. Wielder - God battle force spread out to cover him, and red lanterns drifted nearby as he used True God’s Natural Art and divine energy. Within his body, the Heaven’s Seal’s sequence particles surged and filled him. He confronted the bone-colored claws and punched out. “Die!”

The claws crashed down.

Boom!

An indescribable impact occurred at a single point, and the resulting shockwave erupted in all directions. Astral Anura and the others had not even managed to start pushing Boundless before the ship was sent flying.

The entire Consciousness Megaverse trembled as the shockwave shoved the various Broken Realms that were scattered about the megaverse back. A suffocating pressure swept out, followed by a terrifying vacuum.

Lu Yin did not take even a single step back. He simply allowed his body to recover from its withered condition as he looked upward. Finally, he was able to clearly see the monster.

How was he even supposed to describe what he was looking at? Was it truly a living creature?

To Lu Yin, the creature appeared as a ruined landmass, with two eyes and a single arm. Each eye was embedded at the tip of a protruding horn. Judging from its appearance, the creature had likely once possessed six horns, each bearing an eye. However, four of those horns had vanished without a trace. One horn still extended into a bone-colored clawed arm, while the other horn, which still held an eye, was attached to a broken limb that had been severed.

If Lu Yin was not mistaken, the monster had originally been hexagonally shaped, with six eyes, six horns, and six arms. But now, only two horns with their eyes and one arm remained.

Could the creator of the Tri-Azure Sword Intent have done this to the monster? If so, the creature’s hatred had to be unimaginable.

No wonder why it had arrived at the Consciousness Megaverse and been so dedicated to its purpose.

But none of what had happened had anything to do with Lu Yin!

The claws that Lu Yin had just diverted rose up once more. The two remaining eyes on their horns turned to look at Lu Yin for the first time. The beast’s gaze was chilling and unnerving.

Any Immortal creature should be sapient and even intelligent, but Lu Yin could see no reason in those eyes. There was nothing but numb indifference and complete disregard.

If a human looked at an ant, would the ant even be able to perceive if there was a desire to communicate? Of course not. It did not matter that humans were intelligent creatures.

This creature was no different. It had no intention of communicating with Lu Yin, or of even seeing Lu Yin as a sapient creature.

The claws struck again, but this time, they contained far more force than before.

Lu Yin took a deep breath, raised his arm, and threw a punch. All of the power that he had gathered through Extremes Must Be Reversed surged from his body, causing his punch to be far stronger than his previous blow. You want to ignore me? You're not qualified. So what if you’re an Immortal?

Boom!

A world-shaking roar echoed across the stars.

Far away, Boundless had only just barely managed to stabilize itself when everyone aboard was battered and bruised for a second time. The second shockwave rippled through the megaverse, jolting the Pridebeast and the Megalith awake. They fought against their instinctual terror and started pushing Boundless toward the boundary.

On the ship’s deck, Chu Yi and the others turned to look back. Pillar... you must come back to us! You must!

Bzzzzt...

Lu Yin’s sleeve was shredded apart as a violent power sent him hurtling backwards. Blood ran down his arm. He had failed to block the monster’s second attack, even with the power that he had gathered through Extremes Must Be Reversed. Not even the force left over from the monster’s own attack could stop its second attack.

Its first blow had only been a casual swing, whereas its second attack had carried a bit more intent. Well, it was possible that the monster had not been any more serious with its second attack than it had with its first, but regardless, it was more than what Lu Yin could withstand.

He looked up and saw the bone-colored claws falling towards him yet again. This was the third strike.

Lu Yin understood from personal experience what it meant to face the power of an Immortal. It was not something that he could stop.

He had once believed that, by combining everything he had gathered, including the High Seraph’s Everstone sequence base and the Cosmic Art, his combat power matched that of a genuine Immortal. Lu Yin had not expected the gap to prove to be so vast.

Despite everything, he had not seen the monster use any Immortal matter at all.

The beast had not used any specks of light, unlike Master Qing Cao. Despite that, the monster’s physical strength exceeded anything that Lu Yin could imagine.

He clenched his jaw and gathered a vast number of Immortal matter before again unleashing the Tri-Azure Sword Intent. The slash was sent hurtling towards the claws.

Clang!

Sparks exploded from the claw as the void itself was destroyed. Heat erupted that far surpassed even the flames of Dominion’s Mantle as the clash between Immortal-level powers rang across the Consciousness Megaverse. It was only for an instant, and then the Tri-Azure Sword Intent shattered. The claws had only been delayed for a single moment, though that was all the time that Lu Yin needed.

He did not hesitate to flee to the megaverse’s boundary. Such distance meant little to the monster, but if Lu Yin could reach the Aevum Inch, everything would change.

The Aevum Inch was not the Consciousness Megaverse, and not even Immortals could easily travel through the Aevum Inch.

Reaching that region was Lu Yin’s only path to survival.

As for the Willbound Spire, he did not dare to return to it. If the beast was led there, it could potentially destroy everything, bringing catastrophe to the Origin Progenitor.

It was also pointless to go to a parallel universe. All parallel universes belonged to the same megaverse, and an Immortal did not need to search through them; they could simply destroy the megaverse’s sequence threads.

The Aevum Inch was the only possible path to freedom.

Lu Yin pushed his speed to his absolute limit, using both the power of time and space. Before the fourth strike fell, he caught up to Boundless, just as the ship was pass by the destroyed boundary gate. Chu Yi and the others saw Lu Yin along with the massive claws looming behind him that were rapidly closing in.

“Pillar, behind you!”

Lu Yin did not look back. He was afraid of any possible delay. The chill of the approaching claw grew stronger and closer. It was about to touch him.

His pupils shrank sharply as he released his inner universe, as well as his Karmic Dao. The power of karma spread out while the Investiture of the Gods glowed brightly and connected to the Wordless Heavenly Book. Lu Yin’s power of karma disappeared astonishingly quickly, noticeably faster than ever before. As that happened, specks of light drifted out, the Immortal matter confined by threads of karma.

Lu Yin had not known that it was possible to merge Immortal matter and karma, but he had to try, as this was his only hope.

The claws were right behind him.

Both of the monster’s eyes were locked onto Lu Yin.

In less than a second, his body would be destroyed. He had no doubt the monster could shred him to pieces. The danger he felt from the Immortal creature was so severe that he struggled to even breathe.